Foreword

One of the things that make a democracy work is critical appraisal
of the objective of the Government and the methods used. During
my years in the public service I have been impressed many times by
the value of objective and intelligent criticism in improving
governmental administration.

Within a short period of time, the war brought a wealth of experiences
in government, experiences which, in variety and importance
could be matched only by decades of peacetime conditions. Clearly
these experiences should be recorded and appraised and the lessons
from them be made, as quickly as possible, a part of our general
knowledge of government.

In this volume a small group of trained professional men, working
under the guidance of scholars of high professional repute, have
attempted to supply an objective report of what this government
south to do during the war, how it went about the task, and what
success it achieved.

This study will, I am sure, serve to increase public knowledge of
our wartime problems. It should also make all of us more conscious
of the usefulness of continued, careful, and intelligent appraisal.
I hope it will be read widely and thoughtfully.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

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Letter to the President of the United States from the Director of the Bureau of the Budget

June 19, 1946.

My Dear Mr. President: I am sending you herewith a volume entitled
"The United States at War." It has been submitted to me by
the Committee on Records of War Administration. This study,
along with accounts being prepared by many of the executive agencies
and establishments, has grown out of the suggestion made by President
Roosevelt in march 1942, that I appoint a committee to help in the
task of "preserving for those who come after us an accurate and objective
account of our present experience."

This account has been prepared, for the Committee and under its
guidance, by the War Records Section of the Bureau of the Budget.
It is an account of the Federal Government's role in the mobilization
of the nation for World War II that pays particular attention to
major problems of administration and their solution. It impresses
me, as it impressed the Committee, as an objective and useful treatment
of many important parts of our war experience.

Fortunately, this war will leave behind it much more systematic
reports on its administration that did World War I. Most of the
executive agencies have prepared or are preparing final accounts that
are designed to tell what problems they faced and how they handled
them. The purpose of these documents is to tell the story of the
war impartially and analytically; the total product should be a
valuable contribution.

In my opinion, this volume will add substantially to public understanding
of the war effort, but it will do more than this. it will help
to show the magnitude and the complexity of the problems that Government
faces and how Government in a great democracy can deal
with major problems within the framework of the democratic traditions
that we cherish. Finally, its analysis of the way in which we
rose administratively to meet crisis after crisis may hold some useful
lessons for those of us, within and without Government, who are
striving for better public administration in peace as well as in war.

Sincerely yours

Harold D. SmithDirector

The President,The White House

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Letter to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget from the Chairman of the Committee
on Records of War Administration

June 17, 1946.

My Dear Mr. Smith: On behalf of the Committee on Records of War
Administration, I am transmitting to you an account of how our
Government mobilized the Nation's human and material resources
for the winning of the war.

The war posed the most stupendous set of problems in the management
of public activities that the country ha ever faced. We fought
that war on a greater scale than anyone could have dreamed: the
Government regulated production, censored mail, drafted men, controlled
prices, rationed food and commodities; we had to move, rapidly
and purposefully, in spite of manifold differences of interests and
opinions. We had to conquer the world's most powerful dictatorships--and
urgency required us to do many seemingly dictatorial
things in the process--yet we had to do this within the framework of
those processes and principles of democracy on which our Nation has
been built.

This is a study of how the job was done, with emphasis on the civilian
rather than the military aspects of the effort. It deals with the
growth of war production and certain allied problems such as stabilization,
transportation, manpower, and food. Certain other fields,
important but a little father from the main theme, have been left for
others to report on; these fields include civilian defense, field operations
of the various agencies, special administrative problems like
personnel and budgeting, much of the rationing program, and the
notable contribution of volunteer war workers. The principal
emphasis is upon the period when the Nation's machinery for war was
being put into operation; and less attention is given to the preceding
period that led up to war and the later period of high level but
relatively stable production.

This study tries to throw light on how the Government's complex
and difficult administrative problems were tackled. The story of all
of the substantive things that were done will require many volumes
by other students. Details about many of the subjects that this
account touches upon will have to be filled in; many of them will be
covered in the reports
that other Government agencies are preparing.
One major goal throughout has been to make the report objective;
to carry the analysis only as far as the available facts justify; and to
show our difficulties, our growing pains, and our mistakes along with
our successes.

The volume was prepared, under the guidance of the Committee on
Records of War Administration, by the War Records Section of the

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Bureau of the Budget. Although each chapter was drafted initially
by one man who turned his specialized attention to the subject over a
considerable period of time, the project has been from the beginning
a joint effort that has embodied the collective thinking of the
Committee and the staff.

The Committee feels that this volume is a useful contribution to the
task of capturing, recording, and analyzing the Nation's experience in
the administration of its war effort. We are obviously too close to
the war to evaluate what has happened. We hope, however, that we
have presented enough of the story so that the basis for later evaluation
is in the book. We hope finally that this material will be a
contribution to general public knowledge and to the literature of public
administration.

Sincerely,

Pendleton HerringChairman, Committee on
Records of War Administration.

Hon. Harold D. Smith,Director, Bureau of the Budget,
Washington, D.C.

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Preface

By the Committee on Records of War Administration

In March 1942 the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, at the
suggestion of the President, appointed a Committee on Records of
War Administration to provide guidance and support in the assembly
and analysis of material on the administration of the Nation's war
effort. This Committee was asked to advise with staff members of
the Bureau of the Budget assigned to this field and to encourage the
various Government agencies to prepare accounts of their own
administrative experiences.

There were several reasons for recognizing, at an early date and in
the midst of other preoccupations, the importance of capturing and
recording the story of our administrative response to the crisis of war.
The contemporary reporting on Wold War I was neither systematic
nor analytical. later attempts to find adequate analyses of our
methods of meeting problems in World War I were largely futile. At
the outset of World War II, people with foresight realized that a
relatively small investment of effort would avoid a repetition of this
neglect and would provide a store of information that might be of
incalculable value in any future period of national emergency. Such
observers also foresaw that the war period would concentrate into
a short span of years a lifetime of administrative experimentation and
experience just as it had in medicine, and science. They saw the
importance of recording these things, whether they proved to be valuable
administrative inventions or merely instructive essays in trial and
error, for whatever purpose they might serve in improving quality of
peacetime administration.

President Roosevelt showed his interest in the problem and took
the step that led to the creation of the Committee in his letter to the
Director of the Bureau of the Budget on March 4, 1942:

MY DEAR MR. SMITH:
I am very much interested in the steps that
you have been taking to keep a current record of war administration.
I suggest that you carry this program further by covering
the field more intensively, drawing on whatever scholarly talent
may be necessary.

I wonder if it wouldn't be desirable to appoint a committee on
records of war administration, to be composed of representatives

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of appropriate learned societies and perhaps two or three agencies
of the Government which might be interested in such a program.

The present program strengthened in this manner might be
helpful to the work of the BUreau of the Budget in planning
current improvements in administration in addition to its main
objective of preserving for those who come after us an accurate
and objective account of our present experience. I hope that
officials in war agencies will bear in mind the importance of
systematic records, and to the extent commensurate with their
heavy duties, cooperate in this undertaking.

Very truly yours,

/signed/
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hon. Harold D. Smith,Director, Bureau of the Budget.

The Committee originally consisted of seven leaders in those areas
of social sciences most directly related to the problem of recording our
wartime administrative experiences. These seven members were:

Waldo Leland, director, American Council of Learned Societies, chairman of the Committee
William Anderson, chairman, Committee on Public Administration, Social Science Research Council
Louis Brownlow, director, Public Administration Clearing House
Solon J. Buck, Archivist of the United States
Archibald MacLeish, Librarian of Congress
Arthur Schlesinger, professor of history, Harvard University
Donald Young, research secretary, Social Science Research Council
Pendleton Herring, Bureau of the Budget, executive secretary of the Committee

In the 4 years of its existence, the Committee increased in numbers
and certain changes were made as some of the members had to withdraw
because of the pressure of other commitments and the following
were appointed members of the Committee:

Luther H. Evans, Librarian of Congress
Guy Stanton Ford, secretary, American Historical Association and Editor of American Historical Review
George A. Graham, professor of politics, Princeton University
Luther Gulick, president, American Society for Public Administration
Harold W. Stoke, president, University of New Hampshire

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Leonard D. White, professor of political science, University of Chicago
Patterson H. French, Bureau of the Budget, executive secretary of the Committee

Of the original membership, Messrs. Leland, Buck, Schlesinger, and
Young continued to serve. In 1945 Dr. Herring succeeded Dr.
Leland as Chairman.

Even before the creation of the Committee, a small staff of the
Administrative Management Division of the Bureau of the Budget
had begun to do two things: to stimulate the Federal agencies in the
maintenance of adequate records of war administration; and to carry
on independent studies of the war program on a Government-wide
basis. After the Committee's appointment, this staff was organized
as the War Records Section of the Division of Administrative
Management, and has continued its work to the present time.

On January 25, 1944, President Roosevelt expressed his continuing
interest in this project in a letter to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget:

MY DEAR MR. SMITH:
I'm glad to have your memorandum
telling of the progress being made in recording the administrative
story of this war. We need both for current use and for future
reference a full and objective account of the way the Federal
Government is carrying out its wartime duties. The Committee
on Records of War Administration is doing a useful job and I am
much pleased to know that 30 of our Federal agencies are actively
cooperating in their program.

I am personally very much interested in this study of administration
and I hope that each department and agency head will
see to it that the story of his agency in wartime is systematically
developed. The best way to advance our knowledge of administration
is through the study of actual experience. Those agencies
which have not yet established units to deal with the recording
of their administrative experience should do so.

It is a well established practice for officials to make a public
accounting of their stewardship. Soon after the war each agency
should have ready a good final report that will sum up both what
was accomplished and how the job was done. if organizational
changes make this impossible the Bureau of the Budget should
see that the report is completed. We should also remember that
full records must be preserved for deposit with the National Archives.

There is much to be gained form our wartime experience for
improving administration in the future. I feel sure that a careful

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recording of this experience not only will help to win the war but
also will serve the needs of the postwar era.

Very truly yours,

/signed/Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hon. Harold D. Smith,
Director, Bureau of the Budget.

President Truman also expressed his interest in this matter of
analyzing and reporting on wartime experiences in a letter to the
Director of the Bureau of the Budget on July 6, 1945. The President said:

MY DEAR MR. SMITH:
I am pleased to learn of the efforts which
the agencies and departments are making to record the administrative
history of this war and I wish that you would express to
the members of the Advisory Committee on Records of War
Administration my appreciation of their continued interest and
assistance.

The heads of the departments and agencies should have the
program brought as nearly as practicable to a current basis during
1945. I would like to see completed soon after the war is over
an objective account of how problems of administration were
handled. Both failures and successes should be analyzed. The
development of governmental administration can be greatly aided
by such investigations.

This information will probably be most useful within the
government, but a final report to the American people of wartime
administration also seems highly appropriate. I hope that you
will give particular attention to the ways in which our administrative
experience during World War II can be turned to practical
use in the future. Experience is a stern teacher; we must not
forget the lessons so dearly bought.

Very truly yours,

/signed/
Harry S. Truman

Hon. Harold D. Smith,
Director, Bureau of the Budget.

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Cooperation between the Bureau of the Budget and the executive
agencies ha resulted in the development of historical activities in
some 40 agencies. A number of agencies hope to publish general
histories of their operations in one or more volumes. Many agencies
will publish either in addition to a general volume or instead of this
kind of treatment, special studies covering subjects or problems of
particular importance. These accounts, which are already beginning
to appear and which will be available in increasing numbers over the
next year or two, will form a permanent and instructive legacy for
those who want to translate our wartime experience into a body of
useful data for postwar administration.

The other interest of the Committee and the War Records Section
ha been in the broad analysis of wartime administration as a whole.
The Committee believed that the preparation of a general study in
this field could provide a broad and reliable perspective on our entire
war administration and background for the more specialized studies
being prepared by other Government agencies.

This volume is the result of this interest on the part of the Committee
and the support given by the Bureau. The Committee has
provided general stimulus and has concerned itself particularly to the
end that the study be of a professional and objective nature.
Important contributions to the planning of the study and in the supervision
of its preparation were made by George A. Graham and Patterson
H. French, who were successively in charge of the work of the War
Records Section during the time the study was under way. Phillips
D. Carleton assisted in the final editing

The primary responsibility for research, interpretation and the
actual writing of the text has rested on the staff members of the War
Records Section. As Dr. Herring's letter points out, the volume is
the product of a staff working in close collaboration and enjoying the
benefits of the suggestions and criticism of numerous qualified
individuals not only among their associates within the Bureau but also
in other Government agencies. The book, however, is basically the
work of the authors who prepared the various chapters:

Ethan P. AllenClarence H. DanhofHarold F. GosnellLuther Gulick

Elias HuzarV.O. Key, Jr.Donald H. MorrisonLloyd G. Reynolds

In their work on this book these men have participated in an experiment
in a new type of public reporting. They, of necessity, have
written before all the evidence became available. On the other
hand, they wrote before the data existing in the temper of the times
and in the working environment of wartime administration were

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lost with the passage of years. Working so soon after the event,
they could not have the perspective which comes with time, but they
had the advantage of current impressions created by the events with
which they dealt, and they were able to capture some phases of wartime
administration which would otherwise be lost. Torn between
their interests in the technical aspects of administration and their
mandate to produce an analysis of general interest, they have combined
their efforts to turn out a volume which might have been
designed differently had any single one of them been charged with
sole responsibility.

The Committee's sincere appreciation is due to Mr. Harold D.
Smith, DIrector of the Bureau of the Budget, and to Mr. Donald C.
Stone, Assistant Director in Charge of Administrative Management,
for their support from the beginning of this enterprise. Acknowlement
needs to be made also to some 20 persons in the Bureau and elsewhere
who read part or all of the manuscript and gave the staff the
benefit of their suggestions.